CNMI Commerce Secretary Remy Mafnas said that as of Tuesday, Jan. 14, T-Galleria had not submitted any notice to her department regarding the closure of its Garapan shopping center or its store at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport.
Rumors of T-Galleria’s closure have been circulating around the island since early this month. On Monday, KSPN2 News reported that T-Galleria employees had “been informed that the company is planning to shut down Saipan operations both in Garapan … and also at the Saipan International Airport.”
Employees have not been given the date of closure, the KSPN report added.
Variety asked Gov. Arnold I. Palacios on Thursday whether T-Galleria had informed him that it was shutting down.
“We had a conversation with DFS corporate management and we’ve made an agreement that they’re going to drive the initial news and we can all come together and jointly talk about it,” the governor said, adding that he spoke on the phone with DFS corporate management earlier this month. “We asked them about [the closure] and they said, ‘Give us the time to put things in order before we make [an announcement].’ ”
Variety spoke with T-Galleria employees on Tuesday, but they declined to comment.
Variety has also asked for a comment from T-Galleria’s main office.
This is a developing story.
The T-Galleria store in Garapan is one of the island’s tourist attractions.
There were not many customers at T Galleria when Variety visited on Tuesday afternoon.
